The same translator rarely works equally well in both directions: writing Turkish for a Georgian and writing Georgian for a Turk are two different skills, which is why our Turkish direction is organised as two separate processes. A translation from Georgian into Turkish is checked by a Turkish-speaking editor, a translation from Turkish into Georgian by a Georgian-language editor, and in both cases we take into account the requirements of the body receiving the document. This page describes the difference between the two directions, which documents most often travel in which direction, and where typical mistakes appear.
From Georgian into Turkish: who the reader is
When translating from Georgian into Turkish, the reader is usually a Turkish civil servant, a notary, a university secretariat or a Turkish business partner. Each of them has their own expectations of the form of the text. A Turkish office expects the document to look like the analogous Turkish paper: the structure of a nüfus kayıt örneği, the standard wording of a sabıka kaydı, the tabular form of a diploma supplement. We know the form of the corresponding Turkish documents and arrange the translation so that it is familiar to a Turkish official, while following the original exactly in substance.
Turkish business language is more formal than Georgian and is characterised by deferential phrasing: an address to a state body, an official letter or an application follows a fairly strict etiquette (Sayın, arz ederim, bilgilerinize sunarım) that the Georgian original may not contain at all. In translation we add this etiquette where the genre requires it, and not where it would change the substance.
From Turkish into Georgian: what a Georgian body requires
In the opposite direction the reader is the Georgian Public Service Hall, the Public Registry, a court, a bank or an educational institution. Their main requirement is completeness: every field of the Turkish document, the text of the seal, handwritten notes, the e-Devlet verification code and the apostille fields are translated, with nothing left out. If the original has an illegible handwritten note or a damaged seal, we mark this in the translation with an appropriate note, because the notary does not allow the text to be "filled in".
A Georgian body also expects the Turkish term to be rendered with its Georgian legal equivalent and not word for word. For example, Kaymakamlık is translated into Georgian as "district governor's office" and not "kaymakam-ship", and tapu senedi as "certificate of ownership of real estate" and not "tapu document", though the Turkish term stays in brackets at first mention so that a lawyer can compare it with the original.
The direction of the apostille differs too
The place of the apostille follows the direction of the document. A Georgian paper going to Turkey receives its apostille at the Public Service Hall, and the translation covers the apostille text as well. A paper coming from Turkey must receive its apostille in Turkey itself: on administrative documents at the Kaymakamlık or Valilik, on court and notarial documents at the judicial commission of the court. An apostille cannot be "added" for a Turkish document that has arrived in Georgia, so this step must be completed before leaving Turkey.
Typical documents by direction
From Georgian into Turkish the most frequent are:
- Certificate of capacity to marry and birth certificate for marriage registration in Turkey
- Criminal record certificate and income certificate for a residence permit (ikamet izni)
- Diploma and school certificate for YÖK or MEB equivalence and for a Türkiye Bursları application
- Extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs and a power of attorney to open a company or a bank account in Turkey
- Medical history and test results to plan treatment in a Turkish clinic
From Turkish into Georgian:
- A Turkish citizen's certificate of capacity to marry and civil registry extract for marriage in Georgia
- A Turkish university diploma and transcript for recognition in Georgia
- A court divorce judgment or alimony order for enforcement in Georgia
- Discharge summary, operation report and histology conclusion after treatment in a Turkish clinic, to continue with a Georgian doctor
- Trade registry gazette extract, articles of association and signature circular to register a branch or subsidiary of a Turkish company in Georgia
- Invoice, delivery note and certificate of origin for Georgian customs
Transliteration of names in both directions
The transliteration rule changes with the direction too. When translating from Georgian into Turkish, the first name and surname are written exactly as in the Latin line of the Georgian passport, without Turkish letters (ç, ş, ğ, ı), even if that "reads badly" for a Turkish reader. The reason is simple: the Turkish body compares the translation with the passport.
When translating from Turkish into Georgian, a Turkish name is written in Georgian transcription: Çelik as Cheliki, Şahin as Shahini, Cem as Jemi, Gökhan as Gokhani. There are two traps here. First, ğ, which is not pronounced (Doğan is Doani, not Dogani, though the established variant Doghani also occurs); second, the added Georgian nominative ending "i", which some bodies dislike. So in the Georgian translation we give the original Latin form of the Turkish name in brackets, so that comparison with the passport causes no problem, and keep the transcription identical across all documents of one client.
Turkish syntax: why it cannot be translated word for word
Turkish is an agglutinative language and the verb stands at the end of the sentence; one Turkish word often corresponds to a whole Georgian subordinate clause. In legal text this means that one article of a Turkish contract is one long sentence in which conditions, exceptions and consequences are woven together, and carrying it into Georgian requires restructuring: splitting the sentence while preserving the emphasis of meaning. In the opposite direction, the short, separate sentences of a Georgian contract often have to be merged into one period in Turkish, otherwise the text sounds "choppy" to a Turkish lawyer. This is what machine translation cannot do, and why a native editor is involved in both of our directions.
The flow of customs and trade documents
Documentation for goods moving through Sarpi and Vale is our most dynamic direction. The Turkish invoice (fatura), delivery note (irsaliye), certificate of origin and ATR certificate are needed in Georgian by Georgian customs, while a Georgian exporter's documents, product specifications and certificates are needed in Turkish on the Turkish side. Here speed often matters no less than quality, because the truck is standing at the border. For regular importers and exporters we build a term base in which product names, customs codes and the parties' details are verified once and then repeated automatically on every new shipment, which cuts the translation deadline to hours.
Bilingual documents: when the direction is both at once
A contract written in parallel Georgian and Turkish columns is a separate category. Here the question is not choosing a direction but the legal equivalence of both versions: the same term must carry the same meaning in both languages, otherwise in a dispute the version the contract declares to prevail will win. Such a document is checked by two editors, one per language, and finally we compare the consistency of terms together with a lawyer. In a bilingual contract we always advise including a "prevailing language" clause that determines which version applies in the event of a discrepancy.
Numbers, dates, currency and units
When the direction changes, the format changes too, and this is the detail an official often notices first. In Turkish the thousands separator is a full stop and the decimal separator a comma (1.250,50 TL); in Georgian it is the reverse or a space. A date in a Turkish document is often written with the name of the month (12 Eylül 2025), in Georgian with digits; currency in Turkish is the TL or the ₺ symbol, and in contracts the amount is repeated in words, which must be preserved in the translation. The unit of area (m²), weight and volume are metric in both countries, but Turkish customs documents often use the units "koli" (box) and "adet" (piece), which must be entered in the Georgian declaration as a standard unit. We check these details separately at the format control stage.
Turkish citizens in Georgia: residence, business, property
A significant part of the Turkish-to-Georgian direction is the papers of Turkish citizens applying for a residence permit in Georgia, founding a company or buying real estate. For residence, the Public Service Development Agency of Georgia requires a criminal record certificate, proof of income and, for family residence, a marriage certificate; all must arrive from Turkey with an apostille and be submitted here with a notarised Georgian translation. For company registration the Public Registry requires the trade registry gazette and signature circular of the founding Turkish legal entity, and when buying an apartment the notary requires a translation of the passport and, where needed, a document confirming the Turkish citizen's marital status. We prepare these packages so that the Turkish citizen's name is written with the same Georgian transcription in every document.
Localisation: website, menu, app
Unlike document translation, localisation targets not an office but an ordinary reader, and here direction matters especially. A Georgian hotel's website, a restaurant menu or a tourist app must sound in Turkish as if it had been written in Turkey: the form of address, price format, phone number notation and the explanation of cultural realities must meet a Turkish user's expectations. In the opposite direction, a Turkish product's instructions, label or software interface must be translated for a Georgian user so that the technical terminology follows the standard accepted in Georgia. A native copywriter works on localisation, and for technical text a term base is built that is reused for every new version of the product.
What happens when the original is in a third language
A Turkish document is often not entirely Turkish: an English-language diploma from a Turkish university, an English-Turkish contract of an international company, or an old record written in the Ottoman alphabet. In such cases we determine the direction separately for each part: the English part is translated from English, the Turkish from Turkish, and the translation notes which fragment comes from which language. This also matters for notarisation, because the translator is registered in a specific language pair and a bilingual original needs two registered signatures or one multilingual translator.
Türkiye Bursları and the flow of study documents in both directions
Turkey's state scholarship programme attracts Georgian school leavers every year, and the application package goes entirely from Georgian into Turkish or English: school certificate, transcript, motivation letter, references, criminal record certificate and medical certificate. This is a case where the quality of the translation affects the chances of the application: a motivation letter that "sounds like a translation" in Turkish makes no impression on the committee. So in the study package we notarise the translation of the documents and work on the letters together with a native editor. After graduation the flow returns: the Turkish diploma, supplement and syllabus descriptions are translated into Georgian for the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement, where the course names must correspond to the terminology of the Georgian higher education classifier.
Handwritten, damaged and old documents
Regardless of direction, a document that is hard to read is a separate category: a handwritten medical note, a damaged village civil registry extract, a worn seal, or a 1960s Soviet school certificate needed by a Turkish office. We first examine such a document and write down which fragments read unambiguously and which do not; an illegible place is marked in the translation with a note and never filled in by guesswork, because a notarised translation must match the original one-to-one. We often recommend obtaining a new copy or a duplicate from the issuing body instead of such a document, which spares you problems at the office.
Term base and translation memory for regular clients
For a company that works with Turkey regularly, each new document does not start from a blank page. We build the client's term base (product names, job titles, company structure, standard contract clauses) and a translation memory in which a phrase approved once is repeated automatically afterwards. This gives two things: consistency (the same term is identical in every document) and speed (repeated text is not translated again). The term base is the client's property and is handed over in an exportable format on request, even if they move to another provider in the future.
Deadlines and quality control
In both directions a standard personal document is ready in one working day, and in express mode in 1-2 hours. For voluminous contracts and technical documentation the deadline is determined by the number of pages and the subject. Every translation goes through two stages: the translation is checked by a native editor, then format and completeness control is carried out, where we compare that seals, dates, numbers and names match the original one-to-one. The whole process is online, and the notarised original is delivered by courier to any city in Georgia.
Frequently asked questions
Can the same translator work in both directions?
The translation in both directions is done by a qualified translator, but editing is always done by a native editor of the target language: a Turkish speaker for a translation into Turkish, a Georgian for a translation into Georgian.
Will a document brought from Turkey get an apostille in Georgia?
No. The apostille is placed only by the issuing country, so a Turkish document receives its apostille in Turkey, at the Kaymakamlık, the Valilik or the judicial commission of the court. In Georgia only the translation and notarisation are done.
Should my surname be written with Turkish letters or Latin ones in the translation?
In a translation from Georgian into Turkish the surname is written as it appears in the Latin line of the passport, without special Turkish letters. This is the only variant acceptable to Turkish bodies.
How long does the translation of customs documents take?
A standard invoice and delivery note package is ready the same day, often within a few hours. For regular clients the term base cuts this deadline even further.
Which version applies in a bilingual contract if the texts do not match?
The version the contract itself declares to prevail. If there is no such clause, the dispute goes to court, so in a bilingual document we always advise including a "prevailing language" clause.